Nagareboshi
by RensaSora
Summary: Reborn left Italy expecting a weak, cowardly, "Dame" excuse for a student and his oblivious mother. What he got was a jaded junior high student struggling to attend school, hold a job, and raise a child.
1. Prologue: To Catch A Shooting Star

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Katekyō Hitman Reborn. And unless I become rich off of real estate and purchase it, I never will.

 **A/N:** Hello, I'm RensaSora. Nice to meet you. I won't lie and say I'm not excited about posting my first fanfic, but unfortunately my nervousness is making me a bit… formal. As this is my first time using this site(especially since I'm typing this _on my **phone**_ ), please try to excuse a few errors in this chapter. If you see them, tell me in a review or PM and I will correct it. Constructive criticism is welcome; updates will be sporadic at best. Don't be surprised if I disappear for weeks and suddenly five new stories pop up. My muse spawns plunnies faster than Minecraft spawns zombies after nightfall.

Rated T for Graphic Violence, Dirty Language, and my even Dirtier Mind(which will come into play much, _much_ later). **You Have Been Warned.**

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It was burning.

Orange sparks swirled, dancing in and out of the plumes of thick black smoke that billowed from the blaze. The earsplitting wails of multiple sirens echoed, almost entirely drowned out by the roaring flames. Many of the few remaining windows that had survived the blistering heat shattered as a sudden explosion shook the already unstable building to its foundations. A pillar of fire roared its way nearly fifty feet above the burning roof, bright light darkening the night sky even further and dying the surrounding forest an unnatural red.

To the untrained ear, all was quiet save the sounds of the blaze hungrily devouring what was left of the decrepit hospital building; the sirens having faded long ago as their wiring melted. However, among the crackling, roaring, crashing, chaos of the blaze, newer, quieter sounds became more apparent.

Namely, the screams.

High, shrill screams of pain and fear, terror and agony, mixed with a multitude of shouts, shrieks, and the indistinct but unmistakable sound of gunfire. Most haunting, however, was the maniacal laughter that rung out at infrequent intervals; the voice strangely young, almost child-like, but layered with a world-weary cruelty and insanity that no child's voice should be capable of holding.

Together, the crackling flames, shrieking cries, and almost demonic laughter made the whole scene similar to a chorus of the damned screaming in agony as the devil laughed upon his throne of skulls in hell.

Among one of the many ruined hallways, most of which were alight with orange and strewn with bloodied, burnt corpses, a small figure ran. Clutching a rag to its mouth and nose and cradling an oddly shaped bundle to its chest, the child –for child it was—sprinted along the maze of windowless corridors, flames licking along the edges of the filthy, off-white hospital pajamas he wore. Ducking under a beam in a partially collapsed hall, the small boy finally found what he was looking for; a stairwell, exit sign melted by the heat, at the end of the smoke-filled hall.

He was almost there when, with a groan and loud crack, the floor gave way almost beneath his feet. Skidding to a stop, the boy lurched back, away from the sudden flare of heat and flames that erupted through the jagged hole to the floor below, orange light reflected off of eyes glowing the same bright hue; eyes that snapped up to the ceiling for the barest of seconds before he turned and fled in the opposite direction. With a loud crash, the ceiling gave way behind him, flaming wood and concrete crushing the space where he'd been standing just moments before and sealing off the only exit.

He was trapped. Head whipping back and fourth as he doubled back along his path, he paused at one of the many opened doors a long the hall before ducking through it. A child's corpse, sprawled across the table it was chained to, lay in the center of the room with its abdomen cut open and organs exposed to the scorching air. His eyes lingered on the sight, regret, pain, sadness, and a myriad of other emotions flickering across his dirty, soot blackened face before he removed his makeshift mask and strode forwards to gently cover the child's face. He stayed for just a moment more then turned away, towards the collapsed wall at the far end of the room.

He ran, leaping over the rubble and dashing down the new hall, looking for a way to escape. Not seeing anything until—There, at the end.

A window.

The bulletproof glass was still mostly intact, but perhaps the cracks branching along its surface would weaken it sufficiently to allow him to—

Putting on a burst of speed, the boy shut his eyes and leapt, small body curling around the bundle in his arms as he hit—went through—the glass. He fell in a rain of sparkling shards, wrapped around his precious cargo as he fell from the eighth floor. Mere yards from the unforgiving ground, a burst of orange flared to life atop hair matted with grease and blood. At the last minute, he unfurled himself in a single, swift movement, orange fire flaring around his ankles as he landed with a thunderous crack.

Abruptly, the flame on his forehead fizzled out as he staggered forwards, falling to his knees as burning orange faded to a tired brown and he began to cough. He covered his mouth with a dirty black hand as the fit intensified before subsiding. Fingers came away red.

"THERE'S ONE!"

His head snapped up, sharp amber gaze turned in the direction of the sound before brown bled into orange and a flame flared to life as he leapt to the side, away from his former position as a hail of bullets impacted the ground. Pulling his legs in, he executed a neat front flip and landed in a crouch by the trunk of one of the trees, over twenty feet away.

"DON'T LET THE LITTLE BASTARD GET AWAY! KILL IT!"

He whipped his head around to stare at the group of approaching gunmen, each injured or burned in some way, as they raised their weapons to again fire at him. As the bullets left the barrels, orange flashed red and he, with an almost fluid grace, stood and threw his arm outwards in a sweeping motion towards the rapidly approaching projectiles. A wave of crimson flames flowed from his fingertips in an arc, disintegrating the bullets on impact.

"SHIT-!"

Ruby momentarily shifted back to orange before darkening to a rich indigo, and with a flick of his fingers, black vines covered in wicked looking thorns erupted from the ground underneath the men's feet, wrapping around their legs, torsos, arms, and faces. They hardly had enough time to scream before the boy clenched his fist, the vines tightening around their victims as blood spurted and bones cracked.

Once the thrashing and muffled shrieks of agony stopped, the boy slowly loosened his grip, vines gently withdrawing as the bodies fell, crushed and torn beyond recognition. Indigo became orange and faded away as he cautiously slipped back into the shadows provided by the forest, allowing the vines to dissipate in a dark blue mist that dispersed in the air.

Pausing near the trunk of the largest nearby tree to intently scan his surroundings, dark eyes nevertheless snapped down to the bundle still cradled gently in his arms when it wiggled and gave a small cry. Shifting it in his arms, he lifted his hand to brush back the edge of the cloth, revealing a small baby. Wide brown eyes stared into his own, before filling with tears as the much younger child started crying in earnest.

Sighing, he slumped backwards against the tree's trunk as brown eyes became gold and he lifted a softly glowing hand to press against the baby's forehead. The tears slowed, almost stopped, and a quick shift from gold to blue had the child once again fast asleep.

The boy gave a quiet laugh. "Out like a light, aren't you?" he said, carding his fingers through the child's soft, fluffy hair as blue became brown. "You must be tired after today's excitement. Sleep well, I'll protect you."

He glanced over in the direction if the still burning building when a tortured scream and laughter that sounded suspiciously like "Kufufu" carried. He huffed another laugh, leaning further against the trunk to stare at the small patch of sky visible through the dark green foliage. "Though whether or not that means from the rest of our fucked up little family remains to be seen. Now, you need a name. Let's see…?"

He paused in his musings as a pale light shot across the small patch of velvet sky. An involuntary smile curled his lips. "Well what do you know? A shooting star." He whispered, rocking the sleeping baby in his arms. He turned to look at the face currently pressed against his chest and his smile gentled. "Well, it seems that heaven has decided to name its newest angel itself, rather than leave the task to a lowly mortal like me. However, since 'Nagareboshi' isn't exactly a feminine name…"

He pressed a kiss to the smaller child's temple. "Hoshiko. You're name is Hoshiko." He smiled down at the face, so like his own, yet so innocent and pure compared to the darkness that already tainted his own soul.

"Nice to meet you, Hoshiko. My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi. I promise to take good care of you from here on out."

* * *

 **A/N:** I figured out how to work it. Fixed some slight errors.


	2. Just Another Day

**Disclaimer:** Me? Own KHR? Yeaaaaaaaaaah~ right. You're high.

 **A/N:** So. This chapter was originally supposed to be a hell of a lot longer, but then I reached a good stopping place and writer's block almost simultaneously, and then remembered that irritating feeling I get whenever I realize an author hadn't updated in a while(though two weeks can hardly be considered a while compared to others,) so decided _"Fuck it."_ And cut the chapter off.

 _Anyway_ , a huge thanks to **helenrenee** for being my first reviewer, as well as **LuckyKittens** , **Knight** **Yuuki** , **SweetBlu3Ros3** , **Anonymous** **Random** , **CookieMafiaBoss** , **TheRealDeal44** , and **SweetJaneP's** for taking the time to review my little story. Another thanks to those who bothered to favorite and follow it as well.

 **Note:** I had to type this on my phone. And then add it to the site on my phone. After going to Desktop/Tablet mode on my phone. And then edit this on the site on my phone. After copying and pasting it onto the document manager on the site because Word wouldn't allow me access to my documents because the app stopped working ** _on my phone_**. So. Please excuse any typos and just leave a message so I can fix them m'kay? Thanks.

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 _[Five Years Later]_

"Hoshi. Hoshiii~ Wake up sleepyhead, we're going to be late."

Warm, doe-like amber eyes blinked blearily open to meet slightly sharper ones of the same shade before screwing shut at the light from the open window. Their owner gave a disgruntled whine and shook off the hand clasping her shoulder in a gentle grip to burrow back underneath the warm blankets and away from the offensive sunlight.

"F've m're m'nutes Pap _aaaaaaa_ …" A young voice slurred sleepily, the statement turning into a rather loud yawn.

Sawada Tsunayoshi only chuckled at his daughter's antics. "Fine, five more minutes and no longer okay? I have to run some very important errands today after I drop you off at school."

Taking the inarticulate grumble from the lump of blankets as an acknowledgement, he chuckled again before standing and quietly padding out into the living room/kitchen/dining area of their admittedly tiny apartment.

Humming a few notes in no particular order, he opened the door of the small fridge and mentally catalogued its contents before coming to two conclusions:

One; he had just enough eggs to cook one for each of them for breakfast and still be able to add a two-egg omelet to each of their bentos.

Two; he needed to go shopping soon because, aside from the eggs, a mostly empty gallon of milk, two bento boxes he'd filled with rice from yesterday and a jar of pickle juice he didn't know what to do with, the fridge was empty.

Damn. And he didn't get paid 'til Tuesday.

As he closed the refrigerator door, half-empty carton of eggs in hand, the date on the calendar stuck to its surface with little plastic magnets caught his eye.

The tune died in his throat as he stilled, eyes narrowing and gaze turning dark with the shadows of past demons.

June 17. The anniversary of _that_ day. He had been so busy with Hoshi lately that he had completely forgotten. Would wonders never cease.

Shaking his head to clear away the bad memories he busied himself with cooking the eggs, placing their sole frying pan on the burner with what pitiful amount of vegetable oil he still had in the pantry(along with a musty box of crackers that had been there since they moved in.) Cracking two of the eggs directly into the still-heating pan, he beat the remaining four in an old(but unchipped) ceramic mixing bowl with a little pepper and salt. Before long, the multipurpose living space was filled with the homey smells and sounds of cooking food.

By the time breakfast was on the table and the rice-and-egg bentos wrapped and placed in their intended's bag, nearly twelve minutes had passed and their was still no sight of Hoshiko. Mourning the lost time, Tsuna sighed and went To go wake her up _again_.

"Hoshi. It's been ten minutes already. C'mon, wake up before I get you up myself.

A light snore was all that rewarded him for his efforts and, caught between the urge to laugh in amusement and facepalm from sheer resignation, he compromised.

"HIIIEEEEEEE!" Shrieked the small girl as she landed in an ungainly sprawl of limbs on the hard wood floor. Sniffling, she rubbed the new red mark on her forehead before turning tear-filled eyes on her father, who was casually folding the futon they both shared as if he hadn't just yanked the thing out from underneath her while she was _sleeping_.

"P-Papa-!"

"Hoshi. If we're late today I'm going to tell Haru-san to cancel her plans to take you shopping."

"-!"

Tsuna smiled to himself as a veritable blur of brown hair and pink sakura pajamas raced past him to the bathroom. Having already showered and gotten dressed, he was in no rush and decided to check on his homework instead. Despite how good he had become at calculating percentages(for the sake of budgeting,) math never failed to make him feel like pulling teeth. Sounded less painful, that was for sure, would probably be more productive too. As it was, he was barely scraping by with a low C in math, and his grades in science and history weren't much better. Honestly, the only subjects he _wasn't_ below-average in were English, Modern Japanese, and P.E. The latter because of his... _unique_ circumstances, and the former two because of his job.

Ugh, his _job_. He'd probably have to ask about overtime again. As much as he loved his days off and the time he got to spend with Hoshi(as well as the extra blessed _sleep_ ,) he wasn't earning enough to support the both of them. Usually, single parents in circumstances like his either had family or friends to lean on or gave their kids up for ado-

He ruthlessly crushed that thought before it could go any further.

As for friends and family, Haru was being nice enough to buy outfits for Hoshiko(no matter how much she claimed it was just because she had always wanted a little sister to dress up) on a regular basis, and Kyouya-senpai practically _dragged_ the both of them to his family's home (more like _mansion_ ) every weekend for dinner. And the _Others_...

Well, the less said about them the better. They made their choices and all that.

But still. Most of his earning went towards the rent, and while he knew both Haru _and_ Kyouya would be more than happy to buy them groceries, Haru was already spending most of her allowance on clothes and things for Hoshi. Kyouya on the other hand, aside from all the times he forcefully coerced them over for food and company, actually _had_ bought supplies for them on several separate occasions, and had even paid their rent once or twice. But while Tsuna knew the Hibari family was wealthy enough to afford it,he still didn't like how Kyouya-senpai's generosity was garnering him an unsavoury reputation among the branch members. Kyouya-senpai had always been a very private person working on a strictly need-to-know basis, never telling anyone anything more than what he felt they needed to know, which was _nothing_ more often than not. That included telling any of his _many_ relatives what the numerous, fairly sizeable, cash withdrawals were _for_.

WhenTetsu-san had told him some of the more... ** _"Inoffensive"_** rumours circulating amongst the servants and the smaller branches about the prefect, Tsuna had had to leave Hoshi in Haru's care for the afternoon. Venturing as deep into Namimori Forest as possible, he'd closed his eyes, taken a _deep_ breath, and promptly _flipped_ his **_shit_**.

That day was forever immortalised in Namimori history as the day a thunderstorm and a rainbow had a lovechild with explosive diarrhea.

But seriously, the _only reason_ he hadn't hunted those slanderous bastards **_down_** was because Kyouya-senpai had honestly seemed unaffected by the nasty little rumours. Though, that _might've_ been because Kyouya had been far more pissed at _him_ for, "destruction of Namimori property, I will bite you to death." Turns out, in his little moment of righteous fury Tsuna had inadvertently _decimated_ a tenth of the(very large) forest, causing a massive fucking earthquake as a veritable _mushroom cloud_ bloomed in the sky.

Only Kyouya-senpai, Tsuna had mused with equal parts terror, sardonic amusement, and fondness, would openly attack someone with all the power of a hydrogen _bomb_ for "disrupting the peace." The ensuing beat-down was far from fun, but it had been so worth it when he got to see the expression on the prefect's face after he learned _why_ , exactly, Tsuna had decided to make like a bomb and go _boom_.

Ahhh, good times, good times.

But he digresses.

Worst comes to worst, he could always ask them to put the two of them up for awhile, but that caused a whole slew of other problems. Haru had parents, enough said, but Kyouya...

Well, utter hatred for gossipy branch families aside, Tsuna was well aware most of the Hibari family, _especially_ the main house, either worked _for_ the law or _against_ it. Indeed, Kyouya-senpai's own mother was an accomplished freelance assassin with several longterm contracts in the states, while his father worked as a police chief over in the Tokyo precinct. Not to mention the majority of the main branch seemed to be _cloud flame users_.

So while simply staying over in one of the many guestroom/houses would help tremendously, having seasoned killers dropping in without so much as a by-your-leave would have him on a hair-trigger, and with _his_ abilities?

... Yeah, he didn't think that would be a good idea, not at _all_. Inari-sama knew he had enough trouble passing Yamamoto-san on the same side of the street, and Tsuna was well aware the sushi chef was retired. Prolonged contact and/or surprise visits by active members of the underground or law enforcement was just _asking_ for it. He didn't want to kill anyone, thank-you-very-much. He'd already done enough of that to last a lifetime.

So.

"Papa! I'm done!"

Tsuna craned his next, smiling softly as he took in his daughter's appearance. Wearing the cute shirt-and-shorts ensemble that was the main part of her preschool uniform, her fluffy hair(that was just as unruly as his own,)pulled into two small pigtails behind her ears and a small autumn leaf hair clip at each temple, she looked the picture of innocence.

"Good job, but where's your hat?" The summer uniform came with a little yellow sunhat with drawstrings, and was apparently a mandatory accessory.

She crossed her arms, lower lip stuck out in an adorable pout. "...I don't want to wear it."

 _"Hoshi..."_

"But I don't!" She burst out, completely disregarding his admonishing tone in favor of stomping her foot in a mini-tantrum. "You can't see my hair clips that way! And I wanna show off the pretty hair clips Papa bought me for my birthday!"

Tsuna smiled. Oh, Inari-sama how he loved his girl. " _Well~_ you can always wear it down. The rules don't say _how_ you have to wear it, just that you _do_. And letting it hangbfrom your neck qualifies as _wearing_ it, right?"

The unhappy expression cleared and, with a nod and a bright smile, she trotted back into the bedroom to retrieve her hat, pink-socked feet thumping softly against the floorboards.

Tsuna gave a sigh and lifted a hand to push his hair back from his face even as the beginnings if a self-deprecating smirkflitted across his features. He was showing his daughter how to find loopholes in rules and encouraging her to take shameless advantage of them. What kind of parental figure _was_ he?

By the time she had returned, hat slightly crinckled from wherever she had stuffed it and dangling down her back by the strings around her neck, Tsuna had already put his homework away after deciding that agonizing over his own incompetence was a useless waste of time better spent elsewhere.

"Eat your breakfast," he told her, standing to pour the remains of the milk into her cup and hand it to her before he resumed sitting and started on his own was a bit of a family tradition to always have as many meals together as possible, one they both followed almost religiously.

"Papa?"

Tsuna blinked, swallowing the bite of food he'd taken on reflex and leaning a little away from the small cup covered in cherry blossom stickers that was being held a little too close to his face. He tilted his head to the side to peer around the still mostly-full cup and into pleading brown eyes.

"... Please?" He smiled tenderly at the girl's half-hopeful tone and reached to take it from her. Milk was usually a luxury reserved solely for Hoshiko as it was fairly expensive considering their budget; he wanted her to grow up healthy and well-nourished, after all. But recently, it seemed she had overheard a conversation regarding nutrition for adolescents and had begun foisting as much of it on him as possible. Usually, he'd only thank her and refuse, saying something along the lines of "You need it more than I do," but-

He downed the milk in two quick gulps, licking away the drops that clung to his upper lip like a moustache and smiled at the younger girl. "Thank you very much, Hoshiko."

She beamed back at him, smile as bright as the sun. "You're welcome, Papa!"

-It made her so happy when she felt like she had helped him.

After breakfast and a quick clean-up session, they both toed on their shoes, grabbed their bags, and stepped outside slightly dingy-looking apartment complex, Tsuna locking up behind them. Grabbing Hoshi's hand in his own, Tsuna led the way towards the stairs that were three doors down and to the left. He'd made sure to ask for an apartment space as close as possible to the stairs, because despite the fact that the halls were all outside and a drop from the second floor was nothing, he still had quite a few nightmares about the night of his escape.

Exiting the property, the both of them walked on in a comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company. Before long, after crossing several streets and cutting through an empty lot, they arrived at the preschool.

"Now, you'll behave for your sensei, ne?" Tsuna asked, crouching down to give Hoshi a hug.

"Mm-hm!" She stood on the tips of her toes and reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. "Have a good day at school, Papa!" She whispered.

Tsuna smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of her fluffy head before gently prying her arms off of him and standing up. "You too. I'll come pick you up later with Haru, okay?"

"Okay!"

Tsuna smiled as Hoshiko ran over to her class group, waving back at her when she spun around and threw her hand up in the air to wave at him.

"Awww," his ears picked up a conversation going on between a group of moms several feet behind him. "Isn't that sweet? What a good big brother, dropping his sister off at school like that."

"I know! Wasn't it just absolutely adorable the way he hugged and kissed her goodbye?"

"He's very responsible, I always see him either dropping her off on time or coming to pick her up directly after school."

"Really!? But he looks so young!"

"Maa, maybe I should see if he'll babysit for me sometime?"

Stiffling a snicker, he turned to leave. Ever since he'd enrolled Hoshi as a student a year ago, he'd had to get used to all the stares and attention his very presence seemed to demand; apparently most students his age didn't pick up young children from a preschool as frequently as he did. Whether dropping her off or picking her up, he'd had to deal with listening to(or in most cases, tuning out) the whispers and muttered conversations between gossipy housewives dropping their own children off. If it wasn't for his enhanced senses, he'd probably never know _what_ exactly, they were saying about him, only that they were saying _something_. Like how he knew that the old lady in the apartment next to theirs only stared at them so often because she thought they were aliens, or how the kid down the street thought he was a cross-dresser because he was much too pretty to be a boy.

...Sometimes, intuition was a pain in the ass.

However, it never once failed him, and right now he was getting that distinctly unsettled feeling that he got whenever something really, _really_ unpleasant was going to happen. Surreptitiously, he cast his eyes over the gathered party of women his intuition told him would be the cause of his discomfort. But how would they...?

He got his answer a moment later.

"His mother must be so proud of him!"

Tsuna stiffened, fighting to keep the smile from dropping off his face.

 ** _"Oooh, Ye're momma would be so proud 'o 'er li'l boy."_**

Panic threatened to crawl up his throat, orange flicking through his eyes faster than the eye could trace as he struggled to keep hold of his emotions; scenes flashing in his mind's eye. Why, oh _why_ did they have to use _that_ line? Coupled with the anniversary of _that_ day? Really? Did someone up there hate him or something?

Fate was laughing at him, the bitch; he just knew it.

Straightening, he turned directly towards the woman directly responsible for his flashback, flashed her a rather disarming smile, and turned and walked away; but not before noticing the way she paled when she caught sight of the malicious intent in his eyes. Allowing his bangs to fall forwards over his eyes, he grinned. He'd probably have to wipe her mind later to prevent gossip about how he was some psychopath, but her expression was just so _funny_. Just because he didn't like killing didn't mean he couldn't be _ruthless_. Usually he'd have been _so_ much more forgiving but, oh too bad, setting him off while he was on the cusp of _'The Mood.'_ If he'd been completely insane, pushing him into _'The Mood'_ would probably be grounds enough for a torturous death for the culprit. Lucky for her, he wasn't _completely_ insane, just a little.

Just a little.

* * *

 **A/N:** And before you ask, _YES_ , Tsuna will be slightly unstable in this story, for reasons that shall be explained later(if they aren't already obvious now.)


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